North Shore Writers Association: Kevin Chong in conversation with Emi Sasagawa

Kevin Chong has been enthralling readers for over 20 years. His latest novel, The Double Life of Benson Yu, has been called “gutsy”, “evocative”, and “ambitious.”

Join him and local author Emi Sasagawa as they explore the craft of writing, discuss Chong's career, and how his life has changed since being shortlisted for a Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Kevin Chong is the author of seven books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the novel The Double Life of Benson Yu, which was a finalist for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize and named a Best Book of Canadian Fiction by the CBC. His creative nonfiction and journalism have recently appeared in Time Magazine, Literary Hub, Montecristo, and the Globe and Mail. An Associate Professor at the UBC Okanagan, he lives in Vancouver with his family.

Emi Sasagawa is a settler, immigrant and queer woman of colour, living and writing on the traditional, ancestral and stolen territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and Selilwitulh Nations. Her debut novel Atomweight, by Tidewater Press, tells the story of Aki, a good girl, good student, good daughter from a loving but demanding multiracial family, who, after being triggered by a violent incident, begins picking fights with random strangers. This is a story about mixedness, queerness and power—about reflecting on oppression and privilege, and the ways we take up space in the world. 

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The North Shore Writers Festival is presented in partnership by North Vancouver City Library, North Vancouver District Public Library, and West Vancouver Memorial Library. This is one of the nine events happening April 12 – 13. View the full schedule.